Ham, Noah's son
Ham first appears as one of Noah's three sons. God promised Noah that his wife, sons, and sons' wives would be preserved with him in the ark. When the flood arrived, Ham entered the ark with Noah, Shem, Japheth, and their wives (Genesis 6:18; Genesis 7:13).
After the flood, Genesis identifies Ham as Canaan's father. This family detail prepares readers for the difficult episode that follows (Genesis 9:18).
And the sons of Ham; Cush, and Mizraim, and Put, and Canaan.
The event in Noah's tent
Noah later planted a vineyard, drank too much wine, and lay uncovered in his tent. Ham saw his father in that vulnerable state and told his brothers. Shem and Japheth took a garment, walked backwards into the tent, and covered Noah without looking at him (Genesis 9:20-23).
When Noah woke and discovered what his younger son had done, he spoke words of judgement over Canaan. The passage does not explain every detail behind Noah's response, so Christians should be careful not to claim more than the text says. It does contrast Ham's action with the care shown by Shem and Japheth (Genesis 9:24-27).
And he said, Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren.
Who received the curse?
The wording of Genesis matters here. Noah addressed the curse to Canaan, Ham's son, rather than directly declaring a curse on Ham. Genesis later names Ham's other sons as Cush, Mizraim, and Put, while separately tracing Canaan's family line (Genesis 10:6; Genesis 10:15).
Why Canaan received this curse is a question the passage does not fully answer. Faithful readers have wrestled with it for centuries. Still, the text itself does not pronounce a curse on every person descended from Ham.
What Ham's story does not mean
Some people have wrongly appealed to this account to defend racism or the enslavement of African people. That misuse ignores whom Noah actually named in the passage. It also clashes with Genesis, which presents every human being as made in God's image (Genesis 1:27).
Paul taught in Athens that God is the source of all peoples and nations, and that he calls human beings to seek him (Acts 17:26-27). Ham's story gives no permission to rank ethnic groups or deny anyone's dignity. Instead, it records how quickly human sin and family brokenness reappeared after the flood, while God's purposes continued.
So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.